Explain The Traditional Alternative Methods Out Of School Suspensions

(a) This study examines out-of-school suspensions in the 9th grade and their effect on high school and post-secondary outcomes. This analyses also examines demographic disparities in school suspensions, their relationship to poverty and their contribution to high school graduation and post-secondary attainment gaps.

-Our PBIS Team has been working to develop ideas for next year. Attached is a detention reflection sheet (for students to fill out during detention), a student goal sheet that students would fill out during advisory at beginning of the year, a positive behavior matrix, and a positive behavior ticket (to be given when we see students doing something positive). Please review the following documents and if you have any feedback please let me know. It would be nice for you to show students the behavior matrix during advisory some time this week or next to get their feedback as well.

Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases

A popular method of distribution is through a Faculty and Student Handbook, which is also sent home for parents to read and realize its application to the school’s learning community and culture. Another form of announcement of the school’s disciplinary plan is through a beginning of the year school-wide assembly, as well as imaginative presentations (Marzano, R., Marzano, J., & Pickering, 2003, pg. 109). These presentations could be televised, or in-person; they could possibly consist of skits that seriously, yet humorously, depict scenarios that illustrate students expected behavior while on school grounds and may require a demonstration of resolutions to problems through the use of the school’s prevention intervention plan. There also is the offering of an open house night for parents to come into the school and discuss the school’s expectations and procedures, as well as ask questions pertaining to the school’s PBIS and management program (Marzano, R., Marzano, J., & Pickering, 2003, pg. 109); this is a highly effective way to involve and inform parents of the school’s requirements and intentions to keep and enforce a stable, solid, and safe community of engaged learners on the school grounds. One other additional method in continuously remind

Often times it’s the student’s needs and the school being unable to meet the student’s needs that lead to the student being disciplined. Kids who are behind academically, and unable to perform at the same level as their peers often act out in frustration or humiliation (Noguera, 2003). Once these students are labelled as difficult, incorrigible, and unteachable they tend to believe these things about themselves and act out more in class which leads to a cycle of discipline that can ultimately lead to permanent expulsion. For some of these students, these continued rule violations lead to run-ins with the police and the criminal justice system. School administrators who are at times frustrated themselves from failed attempts to steer children from a “bad path” don’t realize that in throwing their hands up and giving up on these students, are in a way helping shuttle students from school to the penitentiary (Noguera, 2003).

Schools that are low performing have the highest rates of suspension and expulsion and the lowest graduation rates. According to Mississippi Today, “the dropout rate for students fell slightly to 11.8 percent in 2016, the lowest in five years.” If I were to eliminate funding as a barrier, zero tolerance policies would still exist- especially in public school systems in the South, amidst people of color. Zero tolerance policies are obstacles put in place for small infractions performed by students, which can lead to disciplinary actions such as: corporal punishment, detention, and suspension. These small infractions may be in the form of getting up without permission, excessive talking, etc. Schools should offer more alternative measures, which counsel students on their misbehavior and give the student an opportunity to amend his or her actions. These methods fall under a restorative justice model. Community organizations, like Nollie Jenkins Family Center, have proposed alternatives such as peer mediation and conflict resolution to help keep youth in a learning environment, off the streets, and away from a life of crime. A case study performed by Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, discovered that after counseling students for infraction their number of juvenile arrests and suspension “dropped by 54%.” This could potentially be a catalyst in bending the moral arc in the direction of justice,

Schools are more effective when students feel that they belong and can engage in the learning process. Schools are safer when teachers and administrators have strategies and training to prevent and manage conflicts and misbehavior. A policy to ensure that students are not unfairly at risk for suspension because of their race and have the equal educational opportunities to which they are entitled by federal law will prevent, recognize, and rectify the overuse and inequality of exclusionary discipline.

With the use of technology comes great responsibility which leads to another key in effective schools which is a whole school behavior policy. Students need to know that if they misbehave there will be consequences. In the article, “Reforming School Discipline” Derek W. Black speaks of the importance of creating a fair behavior policy where suspension is not a key element. In my school there will be a set of universal rules that will be used throughout the whole school. Teachers will not be able to create

When using expulsion and suspension the school administrators are excluding students from educational instruction, which is contradictory to the mission of education. In addition, when further behavior incidents were added to school districts' zero-tolerance policies, it gave permission to school administrators to apply suspensions more frequently and freely. If zero-tolerance were truly an effective deterrent, then it would be an expected reduction in the use of suspension, but in reality, there has been an increase in the use of suspension. Drug policy organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance supports replacing failed zero tolerance policies with honest, reality-based drug education and programs. Recommended Changes As mentioned before the Drug Policy Alliance wants to do away with the zero tolerance policy and offer reality-based drug education. The reality-based model is described as including education, intervention/assistance, and restorative

The data is definitive that black students are more likely than white students to experience school discipline and are even more likely to be subjected to arrest by school resource officers during their school careers. The data shows that 20% of all black male students receive an out-of-school suspension, while only 6% of white male students receive out-of-school suspensions (11). Faced with a disproportionately high number of suspensions and expulsions, when compared to white students, many more black students are falling behind in classes and missing valuable learning time. If it is unclear how important it is for students to develop adequate reading skills early on and how excluding students from school through suspensions and expulsions

For reasons unknown, some students simply cannot or choose not to behave during class. Caroleo opens her article, “An Examination of the Risks and Benefits of Alternative Education”, with the claim, “One size education does not fit for all children and youth” (35). It is true that blanket instruction does not work for most at-risk students. A specialized educational setting results in an increase in supervision and guidance. Specialized settings lower the possibility of frequent outbursts; therefore, placement into a smaller class would benefit the disruptive student. In most alternative classrooms, the student-teacher ratio is low. In a local alternative school hosted by New Brockton High School, the class roster rarely reaches above ten students. Smaller settings allow teachers the chance to minimize down time and focus on individuals. Increased one on one time allows students to find more productive outlets for their excess energy. In addition to being beneficial for the troublesome student, alternative schooling would allow other members of the class a productive environment in which to learn. Students’ outbursts are detrimental to not only the other students’ education but also the education of the delinquent as well. Placement into an alternative school will allow typical students to attend class uninterrupted and encourage the cause of distraction to focus on continuing their education. If the disruptive student is removed from the classroom, then it is likely that all students’ grades will flourish accordingly in the now positive

The report “State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Reports Significant Drops in Suspensions and Expulsions for Second Year in a Row” from the California Department of Education (2015) explains, “Willful defiance became identified with the problem of high rates of expulsions and suspensions after the CDE reported a high number of minority students were suspended for this cause. Those figures helped spur the passage of Assembly Bill 420, supported by the CDE and sponsored by former Assembly member Roger Dickinson. The bill, signed into law last year, limits suspensions and expulsions for disruptive behavior in certain grades.” As California schools work toward meeting the goals of AB 420, they are implementing systems such as positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS) and restorative justice practices. My district is using local control funding formula (LCFF) to decrease suspension rates. Goal One Action D of the San Diego County Office of Education LCFF aims to “Continue to provide and monitor initial implementation of professional learning for staff on PBIS, trauma informed care and Restorative Justice” (SDCOE). My site was an early adopter of PBIS and is currently working with a coach to integrate restorative justice practices into our interventions. Instead of simply following California law on student discipline, we focus on teaching our students how to behave. In order for this to succeed, teachers and students need to work together to learn how to create a positive learning community.

Teachers and public school administrations, as well as state and federal educational policy-makers, need to find a way to incorporate restorative justice techniques into school systems as an alternate method to zero-tolerance policies (Claim #1) because restorative justice methodologies disciplines the student in an encouraging manner while also supporting a reintegration (or first time integration) of the student into the educational community (Data #1); this will cause a reduction in suspension and expulsion rates in public schools, further degrading the school-to-prison pipeline (Data #2). Students should be encouraged to draw closer to education, not further away (Warrant), and restorative justice practices would not only discipline the individual, but enhance the entire student body by fortifying the students’ emotional connection with his or her school (Backing).

Cindy Long provides the enormous impact restorative discipline has had in Texas Elementary and middle schools. She specifically states information on a Dallas school that implemented restorative discipline a year ago, which has had a 70% decrease on in-school suspensions and the number of students sent to alternative school was cut in half (2016). I am excited to read more about restorative justice and find ways I can implement this approach with my fifth graders and share the information with my colleagues. The results many Dallas school have obtained is impressive and I know my school would benefit from this approach, because we have many students suspended daily. As a future counselor, I know restorative discipline will be very beneficial because I will also be able to apply it when talking to other students who might have issues with each other or with the problems they face

Does suspension help students? Why are suspensions still used today? Is there a better alternative to suspensions? Many parents and teachers believe that school suspensions are the best and most efficient punishment because of the cheapness and easiness of suspending a student. Although suspensions have some pros, the restorative system has more effective ways of resolving the problem, proven by many schools. Restorative Justice, or the Restorative system, is a better way of resolving a problem, it handles the problems by letting the offender know what he did wrong, repairing the damage done, and engaging in nonjudgmental discussion.